


before the clock strikes

by gingermaggie



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Regeneration, posting old works from tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-26
Updated: 2013-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:47:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29884782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingermaggie/pseuds/gingermaggie
Summary: An alternate eleven’s-regeneration fic. You know, one that actually gives any love to Clara and the other companions. Best paired with a completely different situation causing the regeneration in the first place, but that's up to you.--reposted from tumblr, originally posted december 2013
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/Clara Oswin Oswald





	before the clock strikes

**Author's Note:**

> Here I am in 2021, posting DW fic...that I wrote in 2013 :) Realized some of my old, short fics never made the trip over here. This one is just me being salty at how much I haaaated Eleven's ending/last episode. I stand by it. Justice for Clara. And Eleven. And...a lot of things.

When Clara burst through the doors of the TARDIS, he was already standing there, in the corner, a bit stiffly. She stumbled to a stop, and for a moment they both just looked at each other. He was still there; with that same old face she’d fallen—fallen into loads and loads of trouble with.

“Doctor,” she said, a bit breathless.

He took a few slow steps toward her, still too stiff for her liking, like he was holding himself back. “It’s started,” he said, answering her unspoken question. “Got a few minutes, and then—” He mimed an explosion, complete with a low, unenthusiastic sound effect.

She moved closer to him. “It’ll be okay, Doctor,” she said, and he flashed her a small grin.

“’Course it will,” he said brusquely, his next step featuring a little hop that looked a bit painful. “I’m always okay.”

When he reached the console and turned back to look at her, though, she saw fear in his eyes. Just a little. Just enough that she could see that it was there.

“What can I do to help?” she asked. “What do you want to do?”

He shifted, a little painfully. “Would you mind…Clara, would you mind going on a quick trip? One last circuit, while I’ve still got these legs and this daft old face?”

She smiled at him. “Absolutely,” she said.

\--

Their first stop was somewhere in the forties, in America, from what Clara saw on the console screen before the Doctor grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the doorway. When he opened the door, they were parked on a street, outside a little cottage. It was lit from within, and Clara could see several figures moving about inside.

The Doctor and Clara didn’t move from the door of the TARDIS as they watched, and so the Doctor’s voice was right near Clara’s ear as he said softly, “Amy and Rory.” Just as he said it, the woman threw her head back, clearly laughing happily, though Clara couldn’t hear her. She brushed her long red hair back over her shoulder as she leaned over close to her husband.

_Amy and Rory_ , Clara thought. The Ponds, the companions she’d heard so very much about, here in the flesh.

The Doctor suddenly shifted, leaning closer to the house, though without moving his feet, and when Clara glanced back at him his face was suddenly stretched in a smile. “A baby!” he exclaimed. When Clara looked back to the house she saw an infant cradled in Rory’s arms. “I always wondered if they would ever adopt a baby,” the Doctor said, his voice softening. “My Ponds…three of them, again.” He wrapped his arm around Clara’s shoulder and squeezed it lightly. As they watched, Amy picked something up off the counter behind her and placed it in her baby’s arms. Even from this distance, Clara could see what it was—an adorable likeness of the Doctor. Clara had never been one for lipreading, but she felt like she somehow knew what Amy was telling her child—“Your own raggedy Doctor, eh?”

This time when Clara looked at the Doctor, tears sparkled in his eyes. “Best be off, then.” he said. “Til next time, Ponds.”

\--

The next time the TARDIS materialized, it was in a blank, empty room, abandoned save for a woman with big, wild hair in the corner, scribbling into a book.

River Song.

Clara froze halfway out of the TARDIS, not sure if they were meant to be seen.

“It’s okay,” the Doctor said, at full volume. “Perception filter. She doesn’t know we’re here.”

They stood in silence for a while watching her. She seemed so lonely, Clara thought, stuck here in this awful place all by herself, and for no good reason. For one of the first times, Clara was able to look at River for an extended period without even the slightest tinge of jealousy. If anyone deserved the Doctor’s love, it was River.

It startled all three of them when a face appeared in the doorway. “Fancy a pop off to Paris, then?”

“Doctor!” River exclaimed, dropping her book to the floor.

“Well come on, we haven’t got all day!” the Doctor in the doorway exclaimed, and River ran to join him, and they both disappeared out the door.

Clara’s Doctor smiled at the memory. “That was a good day,” he said, moving slowly back into the TARDIS. As he walked, he wrapped an arm around his chest like it hurt, and Clara felt a pinch in her stomach. Time was running out.

\--

They were suspended in midair, leaning out the door of the TARDIS above a suburban backyard. It was dark, and fireflies dotted the world. A toddler bounced up and down, reaching out chubby hands toward the flying lights, and a man laughed as he chased around with him. A woman stood on the back porch of the house, and she was laughing too.

“I told you about Craig and Sophie and Stormageddon, didn’t I?” the Doctor asked.

“That’s Alfie?” Clara asked in surprise. “What a cutie.”

The Doctor laughed lightly, wrapping his arm around Clara again so she wouldn’t tumble out the TARDIS with her leaning. Pressed against him, she felt him shudder as what must have been a wave of pain rolled through him. She pulled away so she could look at him. “Doctor?”

“Best be getting on with it,” he said roughly, ducking back into the TARDIS.

\--

Clara wasn’t sure where they were now. Floating through the Vortex, or on a dark street on Earth, or a beachfront resort on some alien planet—it didn’t matter. Everything that mattered was inside the TARDIS, in its final moments.

“Last but most certainly not least,” the Doctor said. “My Clara. My impossible girl.”

“My Doctor,” Clara managed to say, her voice too high.

He took both her hands in his. “You’ve saved me more times than I can count, and you’ve been there for me through everything—more than either of us could ever know. You’re as big a part of my life as I am.” He was smiling at her with those big old eyes, and she managed a smile, if a shaky, watery one. “There’s so much more I want to say.” The Doctor flinched as more energy pushed through him. “I’ve only got a minute left as me,” he said. “But I’ll always be your Doctor, yeah?”

“Always,” Clara said, and she stood up on her tiptoes to press her lips to his cheek—this cheek—one more time. As she pulled away, though, he grabbed her face between his hands and brought her mouth to his, kissing her deeply and more sweetly than she ever could have imagined. Her arms went around his neck and his around her waist, and for a moment, they were suspended in time.

Suddenly he was too warm under her arms, and a bright light burned behind her eyelids. Her eyes flew open and he gently but firmly pushed her away, taking a deep breath as he prepared to blow.

“Doctor,” she gasped, and he forced a pained-looking smile in her direction.

“Clara,” he said. “My Clara. I—”

He burst into a golden star, and nothing would be the same again.

**Author's Note:**

> [romansuzume on tumblr!](http://romansuzume.tumblr.com)


End file.
